


Bus Stop

by Brightknightie



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, HP: EWE, Illnesses, Post-Series, Public Transportation, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-21
Updated: 2010-02-21
Packaged: 2017-10-24 05:34:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/259559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brightknightie/pseuds/Brightknightie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Snape and Luna share a bus ride.<br/>      <em>"Severus believed himself accustomed to the indignity of taking the Knight Bus to and from St. Mungo's."</em><br/><span class="small">(Original: February 2010.)</span></p>
            </blockquote>





	Bus Stop

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Leela](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leela/gifts).



Severus Snape believed himself accustomed to the indignity of taking the Knight Bus to and from St. Mungo's. He appreciated the irony that if he could get there by Apparition, the Floo Network, or even a Portkey — the ordinary transportation choices of an independent adult wizard — then he would have no need to return to the hospital by any means at all. Instead, once a month, coming and going, he held out his useless wand and signaled the gleaming purple triple-decker.

But this time, when the Knight Bus shuddered to a halt in front of St. Mungo's, Severus paid his fare, shook the melting snow out of his hair, took one step into the compartment, and froze. All the way down the long hallway rug that marked the aisle, the overstuffed chairs and tiny tea tables were occupied. Indeed, they overflowed with witches and wizards, young and old, in a blinding mish-mash of fur robes and Muggle parkas. He had never seen half that many riders on the bus.

Severus almost asked the conductor where all the people had come from. But when he saw an unfamiliar little girl point at him, and one head after another snap in his direction, he took to the stairs. Tolerating the Healers all day had been as much society as he could stand. Recognition by strangers would surely push him over an edge; he just didn't know which of his many edges it would be. He concentrated on the feeble non-magical misdirection of the Muggle hat and overcoat that were at least under his control; he resolved that the crowd meant no more than that he was much farther away from his own home than usual, as the bus careened through its first-come, first-served route.

The next level proved even more congested. Severus continued to the top. When he found the one vacant seat in the vehicle — half of a sun-faded plaid two-seater with fringed cushions — he closed his eyes and raised his eyebrows. "Good afternoon, Miss Lovegood."

"It is, isn't it?" Luna Lovegood looked up at him with the same dreamy yet sober gaze that she had fixed on her potions when he had taught her. He wondered that subsequent events had not tipped that balance, battered out the dreaminess or driven her into it exclusively. She gathered her trailing rabbit-fur winter robe to make space for him. When she moved her head, the white pygmy puffskeins clinging to her earlobes purred. "The Viakriazo scale of afternoons doesn't allow for such severe winter weather, but perhaps she'll correct that in the next edition."

Severus took the seat and ignored the reference. He did not care what she was talking about, and she had never seemed to care that no one knew what she was talking about. It was comfortable, in its way. Miss Lovegood was not the most annoying of his former students, as involuntary company went. After adjusting his spot on the cushions so he did not trap any long, loose blonde hair — how she managed to avoid sitting on it herself, he had no idea — Severus leaned back and closed his eyes. She had the aisle seat, and he was against the window, where fewer passengers would see him, and none would try to talk to him. Peace prevailed for several stops.

"Oh!" Miss Lovegood exclaimed, as the bus swayed around a corner before screeching to a halt. Severus could feel her rise from the sofa and heard her set the fallen tea table upright by the window. "Professor, you may want to see this."

Severus opened his eyes reluctantly, prodded by habit. He expected the young woman to be calling his attention to Big Ben, or an airplane, or traffic signal, or some other trite Muggle artifact.

Instead, they were in Hogsmeade. He curled his lip to sneer that he hardly needed the war memorial pointed out to him, but followed her eyes the other direction. People were piling out of the Knight Bus, through the snow, into the thestral-drawn Hogwarts carriages.

"It's the first Family Weekend." Miss Lovegood breathed on the windowglass and sketched a quick Ravenclaw raven with her fingernail.

"Ah, yes." Severus leaned closer to the window. Minerva sent an owl at least once a week with news of the changes at Hogwarts. He replied less often — "still alive, still a squib" had gotten old fast — but he appreciated her letters more than he could express.

They had all learned to detest Ministry interference in the running of the school during the past two administrations. But with the degree of damage done and corruption revealed, a consensus had arisen that the school could no longer be left to itself. Shacklebolt's team had painstakingly negotiated the appointment of a Commission of Enquiry with the Sorting Hat, as a channel to the deepest magic of the school. To the delighted scandal of _The Daily Prophet_ , and the grim, private satisfaction of Severus himself, who had been headmaster and knew things the Prophet never could, the Sorting Hat had insisted on interviewing a string of Muggle education experts, finally appointing two to the Commission, as well as two foreign wizards and Firenze the centaur.

In due time, the staff had been doubled, with Head of House now a full-time job, Assistant Heads of House added, new classes introduced and several administrative positions innovated. A limited Apparation station was set up inside the grounds for parental visits. Parent-teacher conferences had been instituted. There was escalating talk of withholding Sorting until the third year, housing all the eleven and twelve-year-olds together in some fifth, unaffiliated House, or shifting them from House to House... And now: Family Weekends.

While Severus watched the carriages fill, Miss Lovegood drew the other three mascots on the window as well, and then tapped each with her wand. " _Expergefacio_!" The transparent animals began to romp on the glass, glowing with the low-angle of the sunset rays. The lion and snake played together; Severus had never seen them depicted so friendly. He tried not to envy the casual magic, reminding himself that he had never had any talent for the visual arts, anyway.

Miss Lovegood fell back into her seat as the Knight Bus lurched forward. "It will be wonderful for most students," she observed conversationally, "but I can't help wondering how it will go for those with no family to come, or whose families just don't come, or who wish their families wouldn't come."

"They'll survive," Severus said. Their deck was almost empty now, and the reduced noise level indicated that they had offloaded most of the crowd. He was almost home.

"Can't we give them more than survival?" Miss Lovegood asked.

Severus felt his wand, ready to his hand, useless in his hands. If the Healers never discovered how to restore his magic, life itself would have to be magic enough. "Sometimes survival is everything."

"Nature, red in tooth and claw. Magic, white in lightning flash and Seers' eyes." Miss Lovegood hummed. Severus wondered whether she were quoting song lyrics, or just being peculiar. "I think Hogwarts should make time for students to ask what we're surviving for. I think we all need to know."

The bus tilted up on its left wheels, and then landed with a bounce in front of a certain house on Spinner's End. "But," Severus recognized his home with confusion, "you boarded first."

Miss Lovegood shrugged. "Oh, I'm not on the list. This was my destination."

Severus blinked.

"The bus, I mean. Sometimes I get lonely; the people I know have such hectic lives since we graduated, and they've moved all over. And then there's the Reconstruction, you know. Riding the Knight Bus is like having someone to visit."

"'Ere! Professor!" The conductor shouted up the stairs. "You gettin' off 'ere, aincha?"

Severus stood, nodded to Miss Lovegood and strode to the stairs. One step down, he looked back. An impulse sat on his tongue. He swallowed it.

She smiled at him. Then she leaned over to straighten the tea table again.

Severus stepped out into the snow, just a few paces from his own hearth, and a few Muggle matches from a roaring fire, a warm cup and a good book. If he were lucky, an owl from Minerva would be waiting, as well.

If he saw Luna on the bus again, he would not be displeased.

 

  
**— End —**   


**Author's Note:**

>  **Disclaimers.** Harry Potter belongs to Rowling and her associates. No infringement is intended. Everything is, of course, entirely fictional.
> 
>  **Inspiration.** This tiny story was one of a set of three gifts for Leela. I tried to reflect some of her favorite characters and relationships in her favorite fandom.
> 
>  **Thank you for reading!** Constructive criticism is welcome. Please let me know what you think.


End file.
